Airborne Infantry
by TheCataphract
Summary: Alexia Czartoryski was deployed along with the rest of the 82nd Airborne to secure Atlanta when the dead decided not to stay that way. They failed. In the retreat from the city, Alex was cut off from her unit and left behind. When a particular civilian of all people dragged her out of the city, saving her life, Alex decides to do her best to return the favor.
1. Chapter 1: The Escape

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead, if that wasn't already obvious. Only Alex is mine.

* * *

" _All Units, this is central command."_

Alex could only just hear the crackling voice of the general, or whoever was in command at this point. There were a lot of losses. In any case, her radio sat a few feet from where she had fallen.

" _The safe zone around the CDC has been breached."_

She had fallen into the basement of this building when the floor, already weakened by a fire that had only just been put out by firemen back when everyone thought these were just unusually bad riots, had given out on her as she tried to cover the remains of her squad as they ran for the back door and the Bradley IFV that was going to get them out of this forsaken city.

" _There are not enough forces available to secure the city and most airfields are under attack."_

On the bright side, none of the infected seemed to notice her in favor of pursuing her much louder comrades and the thunderous booms of the Bradley's autocannon beyond them.

" _No support is available at this time."_

Another plus was that nothing seemed to be broken in her back. There were advantages to having decided to go with the rigid ceramic trauma plates in addition to the normal kevlar inserts. They actually distributed force around her body.

" _Any remaining units are to withdraw from urban areas to regroup with any friendlies in the area, and then proceed to the nearest surviving military installation or coastal fortification."_

Now if she could just work feeling back into her back she might just be able to pick herself back up and...

" _The Navy has reported that it can supply these locations, and evacuate any excess personnel to islands and other offshore facilities."_

Nope, her whole backside had to be bruised and busted up. _Maybe I'll just stay here for a bit._

Now that she thought of it, her head was ringing a bit and trying to get up had sent it spinning. _Concussion, probably. Joy._

" _Good luck, and God save us all."_

 _See now if God were going to save us he would have done something by now. Only thing that is going to save humanity is humans now._

 _Shit._

She reached over to the damned radio and changed back to the squad channel. She went to say something, but found herself short of breath and just let her hand fall to the side again. Her exhaustion was absolute at this point, only willpower and the knowledge she probably wouldn't wake up again if she closed her eyes kept her from drifting off.

That and the sound of those that should really be dead, but hadn't seemed to have gotten the memo.

" _Czartoryski, give me your status. Where are you Alex? We can't stay here!"_

 _Ah,_ that would be the Sergeant. The man was a saint. The best kind of saint too. The badass medieval kind that went out and smote evil with fire and steel and unshaken resolve. He was the only reason the Squad was still in one piece where the rest of their overstretched and confused platoon had been torn apart.

 _Honestly. We never stood a chance once we lost containment in downtown. A city of millions that could only be put down with headshots versus a few thousand paratroopers and national guard with not nearly enough bullets to do the job._

" _Damnit Alex! If you can hear me, I am sorry. We can't get back to you. There are too many and we don't have long before the airforce starts bombing the city. Stay alive if you can. Keep quiet and try to get out and meet up with us if you can. We'll be heading to Fort Benning first. If that doesn't work, we'll head for the coast. Stay alive kid."_

With that, the radio silenced itself. Alex had only really heard parts of what Sarge had said, fighting to stay conscious and trying to muster up enough willpower to _move_.

All thoughts ground to a halt as she heard the door to the basement creep open, her heart kicking into overdrive feeling like an engine that really needs a tune up and probably some oil but goes anyways 'cause _damn that's a lot of gas._

Adrenalin is a hell of a drug.

"Oh holy shit you're alive." The infected did not talk. She laid her head back down from where she had started forcing herself upright in anticipation of a fight. There was no way she was going to let herself get eaten alive. She'd sooner blow her own brains out.

Instead what she saw leaning over her sprawled out form was an Asian guy maybe two years older than her own twenty with a baseball cap on his head and a backpack on his back.

"Are you okay?" Alex fixed him with a glare that she'd been told _could_ , in fact, melt steel beams. The effect would only be enhanced by the fact that she hadn't slept more than an hour or two in three days, and had been through Hell in the meantime.

"Right, stupid question." He admitted, an apologetic look on his face as he tried to assess her condition without touching her. _Civilians…_

"Uhm," he stammered for a moment before seemingly gathering his resolve and offering a hand. "I don't suppose you can walk? I'd been waiting for something to draw those monsters off for the last eight hours so we'd better get moving while we can." His resolve grew as he spoke. _Maybe I judged too soon._

Giving a small nod in spite of really not being sure, Alex took the offered hand up and the two of them got her on her feet again with only a little difficulty. The soldier noted with some annoyance that he was taller than her by a good head, not that she had been taller than anyone since middle school. It was a curse.

The pain brought her back into focus and she nearly collapsed right there but the civilian managed to catch her and slung her left arm over his shoulder to help her along. She was nodded her thanks, looking around for where she had dropped her rifle before the telltale moans of the dead made themselves known at the hole in the floor above that she had just fallen through. The rifle was nowhere to be seen.

Her human crutch tensed right along with her. "Time to go." He stated simply as he turned the two of them around and made for the door to the hallway he had come from. Behind them, they could hear the wet _smacks_ as the dead fell through the hole in order to get at them.

They made it with no trouble, closing the door behind them after limping into the unlit hallway beyond. Whatever light was coming from outside cut out completely as the door closed, leaving them in total darkness with only the faint shuffling of the dead beyond trying to get to their feet even as their fellows fell on top of them like some demented cartoon.

The soldier managed to get her flashlight turned on first, it being easily accessible on the front of her vest, with her human crutch digging his out only a couple of seconds later. The two leaned against the cold tiled wall for a moment as they got their bearings. The two flashlights, while better than being blind, did not help the gloominess of the basement hallway in the slightest.

"Glenn Rhee." The now named Glenn held his hand out for her to shake. He glanced at her nametag on her chest before making a helpless expression at the _Czartoryski_ written there. "I don't suppose I could get your first name? I don't think I can pronounce that."

The soldier just gave a small grin at that before taking his hand. "Alexia, but just use Alex." This again was nothing new. Her father had apparently been Polish. Though she had never known the guy herself, he had obviously come over fairly recently in the whole scheme of things. Go any further back and the immigration authorities would have probably made him change it to something they could actually say.

"Thanks," She said simply, trying to make her gratitude show on her face, but she really wasn't good at the whole 'social' thing. Rather than run the risk of shoving her entire boot into her mouth she nodded towards the end of the hallway where the stairs should have been, hoping Glenn would catch her meaning.

"Right, time to go." He caught on quickly, taking Alex's arm to help her limp along. Thankfully the two of them were fairly quiet. Otherwise, they would likely have more issues than the soft rattling of the door they had just closed.

Eventually, they made it out of the building itself and into the parking lot behind the building. The nearest infected were on the other side of the building, drawn to where the armored vehicle had been only minutes before, so they had time. _Not much, but hey, it's nice not to be on the brink of being overrun anymore!_

 _Then again, we'd been overrun for the last three days straight if we're being totally honest._

"My car is over here, come on. We can drive a few blocks and figure out where to go from there." Glenn got the two of them moving at a decent pace, somewhere between a shamble and a jog as they knew they would not be alone for long.

It was borderline torture for Alex herself. The pain only grew the more she moved and while she could take it for the moment, she did not want to have to keep this up.

Thankfully she did not have to. Glenn guided towards a car parked just inside the lot and facing the exit, having not even bothered with parking in an actual _spot_.

 _Then again, the traffic police have bigger issues right now. Probably the smart thing to do honestly._

"Here" Glenn let her lean against the passenger side door to the incredibly generic little corolla that was probably a decade old and, barring major accidents, or maybe even in spite of them, would likely keep on driving until the end of civilization. _Though I suppose it might already have… I need to stop trying to think with a concussion._

At some point, Glenn managed to get her into the car's passenger seat before scrambling around to the driver's side, his anxiety at being out in the open growing by the minute. He was justified as a few of the not-so-dead came lurching around the corner of the building, having apparently lost interest in trying to pursue the fleeing armored vehicle and perked up at the sound of the little car's engine starting up.

Their drive was predictably short. Within five blocks they had been backed up against a building and pinned between two growing hordes of walkers closing in from both directions of the street and to top it all off. Even in Alex could see straight enough to shoot between the combined nausea and dizziness from the concussion, she hadn't had the presence of mind in the building to get Glenn to grab her rifle. All they had to fight with now was Glenn's baseball bat, Alex's sidearm and a handful of knives.

 _I think we passed shit creek somewhere a few blocks back..._

Glancing around them, Alex noticed that the little Camry could _probably_ fit through the building's double doors with a little encouragement. She tapped Glenn on the shoulder, snapping him out of his growing panic, and pointed to the doors in question.

"The doors? No, they're probably locked and we might not even make it in time!" He shook his head, still looking for a place they could try and drive through the infected.

"Drive through them."

"What?" He did nothing to hide his disbelief.

"We'll fit and the car will keep them from following too close, we can try the back of the building."Alex's determination grew as the adrenaline started flowing back into her system and her vision began to clear as the pain faded for the time being. Not really gone, just put on the backburner until they were out of immediate danger. The soldier knew she would pay for it later.

"And try walking out of the city? You said yourself we can't stay here!"

"It's our best chance to get out of this bind. We can try to steal another car or something once we get away from the swarm!" Her voice began to betray her agitation. The dead were closing in all around them. "Now move before we lose it!"

The faithful little machine gave its best impression of a muscle car as Glenn flattened the accelerator and whipped the car around and lined up with the glass doors. "We are _so_ dead…"

" _Glenn!"_

They smashed through the doors in a shower of glass. Glenn had the presence of mind to stop them only just far enough in that their front doors could open, leaving the back half of the car to buy them precious seconds as he scrambled out and around to help Alex to her feet and towards the doors leading deeper in the building at the other side of the reception entry room.

Inside it was a typical office building's entry. Granite floors and walls, now useless elevators dominating the center of the space, with a coffee shop to the side and a small convenience store to the other.

For their part, the two survivors took off towards the stairwell in the back left corner. There were dead in the shops, only held back by the glass partitions and with the horde beginning to work its way over the top of the car behind them they decided that this would not, in fact, be the location of their glorious last stand.

Glenn left her to lean her shoulder against the wall inside the stairwell as he turned around and slammed the door in the faces of the dead that were doing their level best to nip at their heels. _Arms, thighs, chests. They'd probably take what they could get._

When it was apparent the dead, for all that they were surprisingly spritely given their state of undeath, could not, in fact, work the doorknob Glenn allowed himself to collapse against the door with his face in his hands and releasing a heavy sigh.

"Alex?" The soldier just turned her helmeted head his way, still trying to control her own breathing, "You are not allowed to make any more plans."

She just smiled a moment before a banging against the door reminded them of where they were. The stairwell door wasn't even deadbolted.

The soldier drew her sidearm in her right hand as Glenn raised a flashlight and lent her his shoulder as support while they tried to decide whether to go up or down.

"Basement probably won't have an exit," the young man mused for a moment, "We'll have to go up and look for a fire escape or another set of stairs."

Nodding her assent, the pair made their way carefully up the stairs to the second floor. They were let out into an unfortunately dark internal hallway with doors that led to differing office suites. To their relief, however, all the doors were closed and the hall in front of them seemed clear. _Can't imagine the psychologist was filling any appointments after the city was locked down._

They had to turn down a new hallway before they found 'Emergency Exit' signs that led anywhere other than where they had just come from. Going down yet another pitch-black stairwell brought them to a door that led out the opposite side of the building they had just come from. Glenn cracked the door with a creek that made them both cringe, holding it for a moment to allow their eyes to adjust the almost blinding light of the late afternoon sun shining directly into the door.

Alex did her best to lead the way out of the door, pistol leveled in front of them but there were blessedly few walkers in the parking lot behind the building so Alex felt no particular need to waste the rounds and draw more to them. Instead, they started towards the street where a handful of undamaged cars sat.

"I don't suppose you know how to hotwire a car?" Alex asked as they drew closer to yet another incredibly generic four-door sedan. This one was that really unfortunate shade of brown that some manufacturers thought was a good idea for a while before coming to their senses, but they really were not in a position to complain.

"No, sorry, never saw that elective in school," Glenn replied, head constantly swiveling to watch the handful of dead in the area shuffle closer.

"Well shit," She handed her pistol to Glenn handle first, "Keep them off me."

"I've never…"

"That's fine, good time to learn." She said shortly, trying to get her eyes to focus on her task as she finds something to break the glass with. "Just line of the front sight with the two rear ones, point and shoot for the head if they get within ten yards or so." She eventually just picked up a half a brick that had probably been thrown during one of the riots.

Those had not made the Army's job any easier.

"This is going to make a lot of noise." She warned as she threw all the strength she could muster into breaking the driver's side window. It took a few tries, shatterproof glass resisting her first few attempts. Nevertheless, she got in as the car alarm started blaring for all the city to hear, but there was nothing for it. They had to get out of the city. They could worry about the alarm when they had room to breath.

She heard Glenn take a couple of shots as she worked her way under the steering wheel and started trying to work the steering column open to get at the starter wires. Again, however, her inability to focus her eyes worked against her and she was only making progress at all due to grim determination.

 _This isn't going to work in time._

The realization was sobering. Soon there would be too many walkers for Glenn to keep at bay and they would have to try and run for it. There really was not a way they would be making it out of the city on foot. Regardless she soldiered on, determined to at least try.

Suddenly a van pulled up to them, a black man leaning out the window trying to get their attention over the still blaring car alarm.

"T-Dog?" She heard Glenn call out in disbelief as she got out from the floor of the car. "You made it out of the Refugee center?"

"Yeah man!" She heard him call back, "Get in! We gotta move!"

Neither Alex nor Glenn had any arguments with that. Hoisting herself out of the glorified dinner bell, struggling initially to keep her balance before Glenn grabbed her by the shoulder and helped her into one of the rows of seats in the back of what she could now see was a church van before following himself. T-Dog wasted no time, jamming the accelerator before the door was even closed. It was not particularly fast, but it was enough to get them out of reach. It took everything Alex had to keep from passing out right then and there even in spite of the bone-deep bruising.

"Where do we go from here?"

"Out of the city, man."

"Not one of the refugee centers? I heard the Army was trying to dig into everyone they could."

"No way, when I found Alex I heard her radio say the Army was pulling out of the city in a hurry, they're going to bomb Atlanta."

"...What?" Alex wished she could say she had never heard someone sound so broken before, but that would be one of the most blatant lies she ever told. "Why would they…?"

"I don't know for sure…" Glenn didn't sound much better, "but if I had to guess they're overrun and trying to thin out the herd while they're still all in one place."

"God. I hope there's no one else stuck there." Silence was the only response to that.

Alex's consciousness finally began to fade as they seemed to get to an open stretch of road and the ride smooth out.

* * *

 _A/N: Hey! Thanks for giving my little story a shot! I've got a few more chapters pre-written that I'll post over the next couple of days as I get a chance to reread them and fill any plot holes._

 _This story, or really the character came after read GenCurtis'_ Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable _and Miimaas'_ Sneaky. _If you've read them you'll probably see some of the inspiration for Alex's character there. Essentially after a certain amount of impatience for their next updates and frustration that they are some of the only active OC stories, or really stories in this fandom altogether that aren't primarily romances, I decided to take a stab at writing my own. This is done on a whim and while I can't guarantee anything, I hope to get at least one chapter out a week once I run out of my little buffer that I've built up._

 _Another major motivation for writing this is to try and improve my narrative writing ability, so I'd appreciate any constructive feedback you folks feel like giving me, and feel free to ask questions as well. I'll try to answer as long as I don't think it will spoil things._

 _One thing I will say right now is that I don't really have any romance planned for this story. It's more just to see how the plot would change with a character like Alex thrown into the mix, and as such don't be surprised when things start changing from canon. I've purposely set Alex up as a character so that things wouldn't go so far off the rails that the story is unrecognizable, more for my sanity than anything else, so we will be hitting a lot of the same stations as canon._

 _All that said, if someone_ does _have suggestions for pairings and can justify them to me, I'm not pathologically against such a thing, it just won't be a central part of the story and I reserve the right to say no._

 _Anyways, thanks again for reading, and let me know how I did._


	2. Chapter 2: Banding Together

Disclaimer: Still don't own The Walking Dead. If I did, I probably wouldn't be writing a fanfic. I'd just put it in the show!

Alex is still mine though.

* * *

" _All Stations this is CDC Detachment."_ Alexia Czartoryski once again regained consciousness to the sound of her radio.

" _Our Perimeter is overrun, we are sealing the CDC to buy the scientists as much time as possible."_

Physically she was feeling marginally better. Not good by any stretch of the imagination but she knew she could function again.

" _Air Force is preparing to bomb Atlanta as all evacuation teams have either reported success or are assumed lost."_

Mentally, she was just numb. Her whole world was lost to her. She had never had a family worth mentioning aside from the occasional decent foster parent, so that wasn't so much of an issue. But her company had become something of a surrogate family for her, and now most of that was gone. There was some hope in knowing her squad had at least made the evacuation. _Maybe I'll be able to link up with them later._

It was a nice thought.

" _To anyone still in Atlanta, there is no more time to evacuate. Find a secure basement or armored vehicle and stay down for the next twenty-four hours. The Air Force intends to deploy napalm munitions to eliminate as many of the infected as possible."_

That honestly sounded like the best choice to Alex, even if it failed to kill a large number of infected, the noise of the bombs would keep them concentrated in the already lost Atlanta area. It would buy time for everyone on the periphery of the city put some distance between them and the teeming millions of the infected in the metropolitan area.

" _We are evacuating all our surviving units now, all transmissions will cease. Regroup at Fort Benning. Good luck to you all."_

As the radio cut out Alex opened her eyes to the near pitch black interior of the church van. She could just make out Glenn and T-Dog's horrified expressions. Clearly, they had heard her radio just as well as she had.

"Are they really going to do that?" the darkness of the van did nothing to hide the disbelief written all over Glenn's face, "I knew it was bad but…"

"Man, I can't believe this," Maybe it was a trick of the light, but T-Dog was paler than he should be. "There are still people down there! People trying to get into the city, thinking it's safe!"

"You heard them, that's the only option they have left," Alex spoke up for the first time, her voice felt somewhat hoarse from disuse. _Or maybe just dehydration._

"It's a shitty fucking option!" T-Dog was growing angrier, especially as they heard the sound of helicopters and jet engines beginning their approach. "The Army was supposed to keep us safe!"

"Don't _fucking_ tell me we didn't try!" Alex snapped, the paratrooper reminding him of what she was, "We fought with everything we had! Half those guys had family in those camps they were trying to protect!"

Well, not so much from her own unit. The 82nd Airborne was based in North Carolina and had been deployed to try and help secure Atlanta and reinforce the state National Guard and the units out of Fort Benning. But regardless they had fought as hard as they could. The 82nd was an elite unit in its own right, battle-hardened from the wars in the Middle East and some of the best-trained infantry in the world, and none of them were willing to surrender an American city to this nightmare. _Fat load of good that did us._

"Good men and women _died_ , units were overrun. My best friend and his entire squad were torn apart right before my fucking eyes and an hour later I had to kill two of them again!" Tears built up in her eyes, and she could feel her nose clogging up for what promised to be a nasty cry, but she refused to let it come, focussing instead on her anger.

"We fought until ammunition ran out! We fought until entire units had been wiped from the face of the Earth! We fought until our tanks ran out of fuel! We only pulled out when everyone we were trying to protect had either gotten out or had died anyways!"

"I got left behind because my squad waited until the last possible second before getting out. They couldn't get me out of that basement because the infected were literally nipping at their heels! Don't _tell me_ we didn't fight!"

The two men in the front seats ahead of her fell silent at her tirade. Alex didn't usually speak more than three words at a time if she didn't have to. She couldn't make out specifically what their expressions were as they leaned away from her. She guessed it was shock.

"Shit, sorry," T-Dog seemed genuinely chastened by the soldier's fury, "I didn't know…"

Any further conversation was cut off by the sound of explosions in the city below where they sat on the highway. They couldn't see the streets themselves, but the glass of the skyscrapers reflected the glow of what had to be fires raging throughout the streets and in whatever buildings they could find purchase.

"I just hope no one is stuck down there," Glenn said, his still devastated expression illuminated slightly by the glow of the burning city.

Alex just sighed in defeat.

* * *

As much as Alex just wanted to make a beeline for Fort Benning, she recognized that she just had no way to get there just yet. Even if there was a car with enough gas to get there, she would have to leave this camp without anything beyond a former Sheriff's Deputy, an old man with a hunting rifle, and a pair of rednecks of dubious reliability for protection. That did not sit well with her.

The former deputy, Shane was, as far as she could tell, a solid man who had taken command when it was needed. Alex definitely did not want to. She was a corporal, not the Sarge, not an officer, and certainly no civilian leader. She'd offer her advice if she felt like it would be useful but for now, she'd leave Shane to that particular task.

Dale meant well and was a decent shot if he was telling the truth, and Alex did not think he had a deceptive bone in his body. It was the Dixon brothers she was worried about in the camp. They were both skilled hunters and crack shots. If it were just Daryl she would not even be worried, instead happy that he and his crossbow would help put food on the table, taking pressure off their limited supplies. But Daryl was intensely loyal to his brother, Meryl, and that was where the problem lay.

Meryl was drugged up more often than he was sober, which was concerning on its own and had expressed nothing but disdain for the others in the camp so far. She had no interaction with him so far, and she was not going to go out of her way to get to know him. She really did not want to think about what he might do when he ran out of booze and drugs. No one was making any of that anymore.

She had no problems with the rest of the camp, though it had only been a few days during which she had focussed on sleeping off the truly epic bruises and post-concussion migraine. That Ed fellow was going to be trouble. He had heard the buffoon lecturing his timid wife on "Operational Security" of all things. It was all Alex could do to keep from laughing in his face. He just encapsulated every crackpot militia wannabe that she and her unit had made fun of over the years.

Regardless of her worries over the group dynamic, however, there were more pressing issues.

"Alright, so as we all know we are running low on supplies." Shane was leading a small meeting in Dale's old RV in spite of the heat and humidity, obviously trying to keep this conversation private to keep from panicking the rest of the camp. "It's nothing critical yet, but none of us really had time to stock up before we left."

It was just Shane, Dale, Glenn, T-Dog, Morales, and Alex herself, who's injuries seemed to finally have faded to the point they could be ignored, if not totally gone.

"Now our real problem is that the only good place for us to find supplies is going to be Atlanta, which is obviously going to be beyond dangerous," Shane was calm, but the stress was written clearly on his face. That expression was becoming ubiquitous as the days wore on. "Worse, whoever goes won't have much in the way of backup. We can't afford to leave the camp unprotected, but we need those supplies. Anyone got any ideas?"

"I could go," Glenn spoke up, holding his hands up at the shocked looks on the other's faces, "I know the city inside and out. I can make a few runs, in and out really quick and quiet for things we need. I don't even need anyone else, as long as I don't get seen."

He was confident, that much was clear. But the buddy system existed for a reason.

"I'll go with you," Alex spoke up, doubling her total words spoken since they had arrived at the campgrounds. "Too many would just get in the way, but you'll want someone watching your back."

Glenn nodded in acceptance, apparently finding no reason to argue against having someone who could actually fight along for the ride.

"You two are sure you want to go alone?" Dale voiced his concern, "We all saw how hard the Air Force hit the city, but I'd bet they didn't get everything."

"Like I said, I know the city. I can get the two of in and out with no problems." Glenn was surprisingly calm about the prospect of heading back into that hellhole. "Plus, we need those supplies right?"

Shane pondered it only for a second before acquiescing. "Alright, how soon can you two go?"

"Well, it's still pretty early," The Asian's expression turned pensive as he considered, "We could take a few minutes to pick out a few places that probably still have stuff and make a run today, and see what we need from there?"

"Okay, just let me know when you head out. Take the box truck."

Alex stopped Shane as he prepared to leave, indicating that she needed to talk in private.

"What's up?" Shane asked as everyone else left the RV.

"It's not my place to tell you what you can and can't do," Alex started off, knowing this would be an awkward conversation, but one she felt really had to happen sooner rather than later. Shane was already giving her an odd look. "But I've seen the way you look at Lori, and again it isn't my business, but you really should wait to start anything with her until after we've found somewhere permanent to wait this thing out. We both know this isn't it."

Shane seemed angry at first but mulled over the paratrooper's words for a moment. "If she got pregnant..."

"Exactly, that would probably be a death sentence. We don't have a doctor or even more than basic first aid," Alex pointed out, "If she is worth that kind of commitment, she is worth waiting until you know an accident isn't going to get her, and maybe the rest of us bogged down and killed."

"Alright, I get the picture," Shane said, "You mind keeping this to yourself though?"

"Don't talk much anyways, I won't bring it up unless it becomes an issue."

"Thanks."

Alex just nodded before following Glenn out to his tent so they could look over the maps he had brought along with him, checking her sidearm along the way. They'd have to try and find weapons while they were at it. A couple of hunting rifles, a crossbow and a handful of pistols just were not going to cut it if the camp came under attack.

An hour later they were on the road in what was probably the most awkward car ride Alex had ever been in.

To be fair, it was mostly her fault. She was quiet at the best of times and the last few days had nothing to make her want to open up.

"So…" It was apparently too much for Glenn, who turned to look at the soldier, who was fiddling with the straps of her helmet, trying to adjust their fit, "you really don't talk very much do you?"

Alex just snorted at that. "Not really, no."

"Any particular reason?" Alex couldn't help but think that Glenn's curiosity would get him killed one day.

"Got nothing to say."

"Ah…"

"Hey," the soldier got Glenn's attention again after a few minutes of silence, "Thanks for getting me out of that basement."

"Hah, yeah you're welcome." Glenn gave a nervous little laugh at that, "I couldn't just leave you there. That would have been a shitty place to die."

That got a laugh out of Alex. _Better than a foxhole in Afghanistan._

The rest of their drive was completed in companionable silence.

The two of them worked together well from the very beginning. Glenn led the way from where they parked the box truck. Alex hopped out, checking to make sure her body armor was in place and grabbing one of the large duffle bags they carried along, with Glenn taking another. They then fell into a routine of Glenn in front, navigating while Alex, with her armor and weapons, watched his blind spots.

Together they ran through the sun-baked and occasionally charred streets and alleyways in complete silence, even taking to the roofs in a couple of places to bypass a horde of the 'geeks' as Glenn had taken to calling them without being seen.

They crouched down next to the wall of one such roof, this one to an apartment building, with Glenn pointing down to indicate the grocery store across the street.

"Think it's worth a check?" Glenn kept his voice to a whisper. "I used to work here for a little while. It's alarm systems were all electric so with the power gone we should be able to get in quietly."

Alex nodded, "Not a lot of time for looting in this part of the city. Too far from the safe zones."

Their minds made up, they made their way down a fire escape to street level, crossing the street without attracting more than a couple of scattered walkers that Alex dealt with her bayonet. _And they told us we would never use these in a real fight._

They made it to the store's doors without issue, though they had to push to force the normally automatic sliding doors open before carefully making it inside.

Alex pulled Glenn aside before he could start searching the aisles for anything left behind.

"Clear the building first, then loot." She whispered his unspoken question, receiving a short nod in return.

Here Alex took the lead. The tough material of her fatigues and her actual armor would protect her from anything up to and including bites as long as they didn't catch exposed skin, where Glenn's civilian clothes would provide no protection worth mentioning.

That and Alex actually knew how to fight.

The combination of the eerie darkness of the store, lit only by the light let in from its storefront and the absolute silence of the building itself made for a nerve-wracking process of carefully clearing each aisle in the front, before moving to the back offices and storage areas.

The shelves themselves were mostly empty of things they could use, though Alex did find a roll of duct tape that she went ahead and stuck in one of her pockets. The real treasure was in the back, where they found the doors locked and hopefully indicating that the store's stock was untouched.

After sharing a glance to make sure her companion was ready, Alex gave a massive kick to the door near the deadbolt. Then another, and another until finally the wooden door frame gave up the fight and the door swung open, creating even more noise.

Immediately the two survivors were assaulted by the smell of decay, though not just that of the perishable items that permeated the whole store that had long lost its refrigeration, but also of decaying flesh. Alex turned on her flashlight to illuminate the windowless room, and immediately she saw what must have been the store manager at one point. The slightly heavy set man was dead now with a massive chunk of flesh taken from his shoulder and was now groaning and shuffling his way towards the new arrivals, slowly picking up speed.

Alex wasted no time. Trusting Glenn to watch her back she dashed forward and ducked an uncoordinated grab before kicking out the corpse's knee to bring his head slightly lower and then jamming her bayonet into its temple, giving it a twist before yanking it back out again as she felt the corpse fall for good this time.

She heard a shout from Glenn however before she could relax. Turning towards him she saw him shoving a smaller infected man who looked to be an employee of the place against the wall with his baseball bat, but not seeming to find a way to kill the thing.

Alex rushed over and stabbed the new corpse in its eye socket. The survivors backed away and let the corpse drop.

"You alright?" Glenn asked after making sure he wasn't hurt. His reactions were surprisingly calm. Probably from the adrenaline that Alex had long since gotten addicted to. It was half the reason she joined one of the last US paratrooper divisions in the first place.

 _Regardless, he'd probably make a good soldier, he's good under pressure._

Realizing Glenn was still waiting for an answer, Alex just gave him a gloved thumbs up before turning to clear the rest of the building.

It took them another ten minutes to check the place thoroughly, but they found no more infected and so moved on to the fun part.

Looting.

They grabbed all the nonperishable foods they could get their hands on. A number of cans, but especially things like dried fruits, jerky that would last a long time, and even packs of ramen that in addition to being nonperishable were also very light, allowing them to carry many at once. Even if they were only debatably actual food.

They also grabbed things like tubes of toothpaste and various hygiene items and soaps that they knew they wanted to make sure everyone had. _No one wants to live with a bunch of grody ass people in the middle of the woods. Plus, you know, disease._

They even managed to find a handful of simple medical supplies, but anything more serious would have to wait for their next trip. This grocery store didn't have a pharmacy and they did not have time to go searching for them. One thing the Army had learned early in its attempts to contain this was that night time was when the infected were most active and dangerous. They could not afford to be in the city after dark.

Once they had all they would be able to fit in their bags they made their way back out the way they came.

Unfortunately, once their eyes adjusted to the light they saw a much larger group of infected out in front of the plaza.

Glenn took one look, paled slightly and said, "Alright, detour." After a short pause, he turned back into the store, Alex following behind him and closing the sliding doors to buy them a little time as the horde had noticed them and was slowly crossing the parking lot after the two.

"Alright, we'll have to go out the back door and cut east to get around this." Glenn led them to a nondescript metal door. Thankfully it was not locked and so the two made it safely into the alley behind the plaza that was blessedly clear of the dead.

It took them another hour to get around the massive crowd of infected. As they jogged past another shopping center, however, Alex put a hand on Glenn's shoulder to get his attention.

The soldier motioned towards a gun store and firing range. The building itself was nondescript, though it had bars over the windows. The most concerning though was that its doors had been forced open some time ago.

"It's probably already been picked over," Glenn warned.

"It's worth a shot," Alex whispered back, "We need guns."

Sighing in defeat, the Korean just followed the slightly shorter girl as she led the way into the building with the same care they had approached the grocery store with.

Ultimately, while the gun store was clear of infected, it had obviously been picked clean. Alex was not quite willing to admit defeat however and with four solid kicks, managed to get into the small office in the back and immediately went to check the desk. Underneath she found at least one of what she was looking for.

Strapped to the underside of the desk was a rifle. Specifically an old, but very well maintained FN-FAL. A battle rifle as opposed to an assault rifle, it fired higher powered and larger rounds than its assault rifle cousins at the cost of greater weight and much higher recoil. You could only use the fully automatic setting if you had something to brace the thing against and even then, the shooter had to be ready to deal with nasty bruises from the thing's kick.

That said, it struck Alex as a wonderful weapon for their situation, it was wickedly accurate and long ranged and a fairly rugged weapon with a reputation for reliability as long as you kept it clean and avoided desert conditions.

She immediately claimed the weapon for herself, and rummaging through the desk she managed to find a couple of boxes of ammunition for the rifle, a couple of magazines, and as they took a look around the store she was able to get a shoulder strap and an adjustable ACOG sight for the weapon. Unlike the original version of the weapon, this variant of the FAL had a universal rail on the top of the receiver and on the forward barrels, having clearly been modernized, where she was able to mount the sight as well as a folding stock with a cheek rest.

Stuffing her new ammunition into her pockets and the rifle over her shoulder, she went to find Glenn again who had taken to searching the range and storage area, where he managed to find a couple of handguns, holsters, and knives along with a couple of boxes of rounds for them all.

"Nice find," they said at the same time, causing Glenn to laugh lightly and getting a smirk out of Alex before they both left the building to continue their trek back to the truck.

* * *

"This is bad." Glenn stated, entirely unnecessarily.

There were a good two dozen walkers milling about in the partially fenced in parking lot where they had left the truck.

"Shooting will just get us in more trouble," Alex stated plainly as she tried fixing her bayonet to the front of her new rifle. She was pleasantly surprised when she was able to lock the knife in place, giving her a reach advantage in a hand-to-hand fight. Normally the bayonet for two different pattern rifles would not work together, this rifle must have been modified in the US.

"So what, are we just going to fight them?" Glenn asked in disbelief, "There are only two of us!"

"Are you any good at baseball?" the question was so out of the blue that it threw Glenn for a loop for a moment.

"Yeah, I played all through middle and high school, why?"

"You think you can hit this rock," Alex placed a chunk of masonry that had come loose at some point during the fall of the city in between them on the window sill they were leaning against to catch their breath, "through those windows over there?" She pointed to an office building about fifty yards away from them, on the other side of the parking lot. It was one of those that was more glass than actual wall.

"Probably…" Glenn seemed to catch on to her train of thought, "You want a distraction that won't bring the whole city down on us!"

Alex just nodded and motioned for him to get on with it.

Squinting in concentration, Glenn picked up the relatively small rock, just small enough that he thought he could get it to actually go somewhere, but large enough to probably break the glass when it hit, and tossed it up in the air before swinging.

The rock took off with a loud _PING,_ raising the attention of the undead for a moment before it struck the glass of the building on the other side of the lot with a much louder _CRACK_ , stopping just short of actually shattering the glass, but enough to get the attention of many of the infected who made their way over to the broken glass to investigate the noise.

As soon as the majority were far enough away, Alex took off for the truck as fast as she could manage with her heavy bags, Glenn hot on her heels. She stabbed one corpse that turned to face them through the face with her bayonet, just like she had been trained in basic and never expected to have to _do_ in real life, just aiming for the head instead of the torso.

To her left, there was another crack as Glenn brought his baseball bat down on the head of one infected that just so happened to be missing its legs, not that it seemed to mind.

Another two were brought down with a snarl from the soldier before Glenn managed to reach the back of the truck and through the back door halfway open so they could toss their bags inside.

By this point, the majority of the infected had turned back towards them and were closing in with a chorus of groans and snarls, but it had served its purpose. Glenn pulled the door shut as Alex killed another infected with a stab through the ear as it tried to bite the young man, who then dashed around to the driver's seat and started the engine while Alex all but leaped into the passenger side.

As soon as the doors were shut, Glenn took off. They only relaxed as they merged back onto the highway and saw it was blessedly clear of infected.

"You would make a good soldier," Alex stated bluntly, throwing Glenn for a loop for a second.

"What makes you say that? I've been pissing my pants since this whole thing started."

Alex just snorted in dismissal, "Everyone does that until you get so used to it you can't even imagine life without it. Even then it sometimes hits you."

"You handle pressure well," Alex continued, "You keep thinking even when you are scared out of your mind. Everything else is pretty easy to teach in comparison."

Glenn just decided to take the compliment for what it was. The rest of the drive was in a comfortable silence this time, the two of them both basking in their accomplishment and coming down from the rush of a fight.

* * *

 _A/N: You know, I've noticed that Alex has taken on a bit of my own personality in that when she does decide to talk, she tends to rant. I guess that's not really a problem, just not something I planned for. I guess completely Laconic would have gotten boring after a while. Weirdly enough writing a character as quiet as I tend to be is a bit harder than just writing a talkative one. Learn something new every day I guess._

 _Also, I've been researching guns for shits and giggles, so expect gun trivia to occasionally pop up in the story. I'll keep it at least somewhat relevant though._

 _Anyways, Thanks again for reading!_


End file.
